Hey, Fry Fanatics!

It’s pretty obvious since this side is served at just about every fast food place around that French Fries are a favorite for a lot of folks! What beats that crispy, salty starch dipped in ketchup or whatever other condiment you prefer? And like it’s not enough that they’re served at every burger joint you go, we dedicate today to these fantastic fried potato strips. Happy French Fries Day.

Learn a thing or three about French Fries on today’s Blog post:

Un-French…Fries?
French, Spanish, and Belgian cultures all claim to be the home of the French Fry. Belgians hold that the snack got the word “French” in its name because the French steal all Belgian food. People of France say it was their street vendors who were first to sell them in 1789. And, even yet, the Spanish feel that, as the first European country to bring potatoes from the New World, they are the likeliest inventors of French Fries.

The Fries Have It
I know I already commented at the start of this post that French Fries are pretty much our favorite side here in the United States. Can you believe that roughly 70,000 acres of potatoes grown in the US are made to be French Fries sold from McDonald’s? And did you furthermore know that McDonald’s is responsible for more than 1/3 of all fries sold in restaurants? We reeaaally like Fries!

Presidential Potatoes
We may not know who to credit with the invention of French Fries, but we exactly who introduced them to the American people! It was Thomas Jefferson who was recorded to have served “potatoes, fried in the French manner” at dinner in the White House back in 1802!

We toast a French Fry to all of you today as we look back fondly on the last couple centuries of Fries in America and wish everyone Happy French Fries Day! Cheers. Go eat some French Fries today whether you get them from a restaurant or make some homemade Fries in the oven with some spices. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans and Aliens alike!

Since we started walking on two legs, our species has looked up to the sky in curiosity and wondered if we’re alone in the universe. And, all too often when we look up, we end up seeing seemingly impossible motion from mysterious objects that don’t seem to be of earthly invention. UFO’s are very real, people. So real that today we celebrate National UFO Day.

UFO, if you don’t know, stands for Unidentified Flying Object; and in that sense, UFO’s truly are real since an object that simply isn’t identified qualifies (it doesn’t necessarily mean an alien spaceship as so many people associate with these three letters).

Encounters with UFO’s past, however, certainly do lend themselves to the idea of visitors from another planet, but I’ll let you be the judge. Let’s take a look at several different, well-documented sightings:

Roswell, New Mexico
After the reports of a crashed ‘flying disc’ in the New Mexico desert made their way into the hands of the people on newspaper headlines, the US Military followed up with a statement that it was simply a weather balloon—a drastically different story from what was initially sighted. Since then, interest in conspiracy cover-ups have been on the rise with Area 51 and eyewitness interviews that raise skepticism.

Phoenix Lights
‘Aliens on parade’ is pretty much the best way to describe this bizarre incident. In 1997 a mass sighting occurred in which hundreds of thousands of people watched a mile-wide V formation of strange lights as they silently glided over 300 miles of Arizona and surrounding areas. Phoenix got the best show as these lights slowly dragged along the night sky for about three hours.

Declassified Navy Video
A three-year-old video from the U.S. Navy that captures a mysterious unidentified flying object was recently declassified earlier this year. The camera stays on this flying object until it zips off at an incredible speed in a fashion that no earthly aircraft can travel. One of the pilots who encountered this object said it was “Not of this world.”

Almost all scientists are in agreement that the universe is too vast a place for life NOT to exist outside our home planet. Aliens…almost undoubtedly are out there. We are not alone. However, whether or not they’ve visited our planet is still in question despite the wealth of mysterious incidents that people have reported and strange discoveries on our planet from long ago.

Have we been visited in the past? Will they visit us in the future? What will we discover should we meet? There’s no way to know if we’ll get these answers in our lifetime, but it certainly is an entertaining topic on which to meditate, especially today on UFO Day. Enjoy aliens on your brain and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Cool Kids.

It’s plain to see that all your futures are so bright since you need shades! Sunglasses offer us a wealth of benefits protecting us from issues of the eye including Cataracts, Macular Degeneration, and Skin Cancer (10% of skin cancers are located on eyelids) among other things. They also make you look cool. Join me in discovering more about everyone’s favorite eyewear to honor today—National Sunglasses Day.

Here are three random facts about shades:

To Brow or Not to Brow
Style is a big deal when it comes to sunglasses. But did you know that the visibility of your eyebrows can make or break it for people? For some folks, it’s preferable. For others, it should never be done. And yet, others believe whether your eyebrows stay hidden or they stand proud above your shades depends on variables such as face shape and brow thickness.

P-p-p-poker Face
For at least a few hundred years, Chinese judges in the Middle Ages wore sunglasses not so much for their protective properties but more so their masking abilities. These judges wore their shades to hide any expression that their eyes may reveal—the same purpose for which hardcore Poker players employ their sunglasses.

Just One Co.
It’s surprisingly 70% of the world’s designer sunglasses that all come from the same single company. Brand names like Burberry, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, and others all actually come from a company in Italy called Luxottica. Luxottica also owns the Ray-ban and Oakley brands.

Enjoy those brilliant days at summer camp with your own pair of sunglasses! You can find your own pair of sunglasses from the Real Kids Shades brand on the Everything Summer Camp main site! Check it out by clicking here. Make sure you’ve got your sunglasses for those bright, sun-shiny camp days and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, all you Water Fanatics!

If you simply live for time on the water, then you’re going to love today and its accompanying Blog post from yours truly. Today is National Canoe Day! If Canoeing is your thing and if you can make it happen today it sure would be nice to celebrate your love for this hobby today!

In celebration, I thought we could take a close look at the history of the Canoe and how it came to be.This innovative vessel has been proven to be more than 10,000 years old in the case of the Pesse Canoe, found in the Netherlands—the world’s oldest known canoe. Way back when, people made Canoes out of materials that they had around. A natural abundance of trees offered bark and tree trunks.

Dugout Canoe
‘Canoe’ originates from the Carib word ‘kenu’ which translates to ‘dugout’. And that’s how this vessel received its name as these ancient craftsmen and craftswomen dug out trunks of trees in order to construct these hollowed-out, single units.

Birch-Bark Canoe
But Native Americans quickly developed a second design which utilized birch bark. This Canoe style was constructed right-side up. It was essentially a skeleton of wood covered in bark, lashed together with roots and then planked, ribbed, and sealed.

For thousands of years both of these Canoe styles were the kings of water transportation until very early on in the 19^th Century when steam-powered engines took the reigns for bulk transit by both boat and train.

Demoted to ritual and leisure activity, transportation by means of the Canoe took a giant plunge in popularity, but has stayed *ahem* AFLOAT through fandom of the human culture that has made its imprint in the body of Canoes everywhere. The Dugout and Birch-Bark styles were replaced twice over now—first with wood and canvas for its materials and eventually (about 50 years ago), the aluminum Canoe.

No matter what materials your Canoe is made of, enjoy moving on the water in it and appreciate how long our species has used this craft as a means of transportation! Happy National Canoe Day and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Water-Lovers!

Many of us feel a sense of liberation and affinity when we’re in the water! It’s no surprise that waterfront activities are some of the most popular at summer camps across the country. Water is certainly a major part of our world. For starters, it’s essential to life on this planet. Our bodies are made of roughly 60% water. And 71% of our planet surface itself is covered in water.

It’s kind of a big deal…

And because it’s such a big deal, we dedicate a day—this day—to the oceans of the world; today is Ocean Day. Featuring more water than it does dry land, the earth presents to us a handful of oceans. An ocean is the term we hold for the largest body of water.

There are four to seven oceans on our planet (depending on who you ask). The numbers aren’t changing so much as our classifications. When I attended grade school, I was taught that there were four oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic.

The Pacific and Atlantic are the biggest oceans and have both been unofficially split up by northern and southern hemispheres which, to some perspectives, adds two more oceans to the count; so the list looks like this: North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic (coming in at six).

It was 18 years ago in 2000 when the Southern Ocean was officially recognized as the world’s latest ocean. Constituted of the all the earth’s water below the 60° latitude line, the Southern Ocean brings the count to either five or seven depending on how you feel about splitting up the Pacific and Atlantic.

I myself don’t understand why we want to adjust our count of the oceans—after all, even the count of four that I’m familiar with is really just one. All of these gigantic bodies connect to one another. None of them are actually divided by anything aside from human designation. There’s nothing stopping Atlantic Ocean water from flowing into the Pacific territory.

And at certain points throughout the earth’s history, the ocean waters were even less obviously divided than they are today due to supercontinent formations such as Pangea and Gondwana.

Enjoy looking into this subject matter for yourself and put in your own two cents. Do you think we should have kept it to four oceans? Does the Southern Ocean make a sensical fifth ocean for earth? Maybe you agree with splitting them up into seven OR maybe you’re with me and think we should call it all one. Just…The Ocean. Let us know what you think. Happy Ocean Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John